Crush
Categories: Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Gay Bars and Clubs, Lesbian Bars and Clubs : Tell a Friend : Upgrade Me
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ...Crush is an eastside gay and lesbian bar that features a nice atmosphere, dancing and good food.
Neighborhoods: Southeast Portland, Belmont
1400 SE Morrison St
Portland, OR 97214 (503) 235-8150
www.crushbar.com
12 Responses to “Crush”
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I always try to take my sister to somewhere new and cool for her birthday. And since I had heard some good things about Crush I decided to check it out. It was the middle of the week, so the place wasn’t too hoppin’, but that didn’t stop the waitress to our little group of four from being most excellent. She kept the drinks coming, and wasn’t afraid to talk the bar tender into a special b-day drink for my sis. Not remotely shy we shook our hips on a little dance floor and were impressed by the visually stimulating decor, which included intriguing art, “burning man” photos, and red walls. Although none of us smoked we did notice their separate several other people sneaking off to the “Vice Room”. Their drinks were tasty and potent, we sampled their “Cheap Date”, “Black Opal”, and I even think a beer was in there somewhere. A good time was had by all.
Evidently, they now have a Sunday Brunch, and children are invited, from 9a-3p, and also have a tarot reader available (for a small fee) on Wednesday nights after 7:30p.
What a sexy little spot for a late-night drink. Great lighting that makes you look movie star gorgeous, and a great drink menu with some fun and kickin’ concoctions. If you venture outside on a summer night, they have some cozy little tables and chairs lining the sidewalk. You must try one of the martinis…the bartender makes a killer one!
Brunch anyone???? Come on who doesn’t like it??? Thanks again to my Navigator/DJ/Co-Heart because without her we wouldn’t have ever found Crush. So for me the perfect meal consisted of an order Chilaquiles and Bloody Mary. And when you add those two things together you get yourself an awesome meal!!!
Even before I had my chance to order my “morning cocktail” I was asked by my co-heart “Who would ever want a morning cocktail?”…and as I started to point to myself and everyone else there she realized how silly her question really was.
So service was spot on but it did take awhile for the food to come out but again it was totally worth the wait. I do know once we find ourselves in Portland again we’ll for sure hit up Crush yet once again…cheers..clank~clank…!!
This place has a wide range of exotic drinks and a fair bar. The middle room is probably the best place for atmosphere, the food is pretty swanky for bar food, they have djs on certain days, happy hour’s great on tuesday. It’s a gay bar but a surprising number of straight folks come down for the fruity drinks. A great first drink at the start of an evening before the rest of it degenerates into bourbon shots and beer chasers.
Best. Drinks. Ever.
A lot of places in Portland have yummy drinks, but I liked Crush because there was a fairly diverse crowd (for lily white pdx) and everyone was friendly. Maybe I just had too many of the best drinks ever, but I found the patrons friendly, the bartenders really fun (even to this lesbo, who they clearly weren’t interested in picking up) and the music amazingly good. There wasn’t a ton of seating, but you should be dancing anyway. The dancing room was a little smoky but hey. Welcome to Portland.
I had some friends in from out of town and decided on CRUSH based on a friend’s recommendation. The Friday night we went in was mellow, but good background atmosphere and music made it comfortable to talk. We had some cocktails (try the one with pommegranite juice), and were going to leave, but then the nightly dj started. My friends were quite impressed with type of house music being played and complemented Portland for being ahead of the scene in terms of electronica. The only downside that we saw was that the dj was located in an awkward space. Instead of being placed to interact with the crowd, he was off to the side and less effective. Other than that, everyone else is right -the staff is friendly, the drinks crafted perfectly, and the atmosphere classy, but not uptight. It has become one of my regular spots to meet people and enjoy Portland
I’d barely landed in PDX when my friends decided to take me out to Crush. Sure. we did take time to grab a couple of drinks first and… ahem… smoke some pot (Oregon pot… holy smoke!), so I was in a fairly happy mood when we got there, and had the craziest time.
Upon entering the place, I’d have thought myself in a relatively upscale wine bar: cool lighting, art on the walls, nice bar… but the 80s beat coming from the next room was there to remind me that this was actually a gay bar. As were the odd 6′4 drag queens in high heels wearing crazy blonde wigs straight out of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
After a couple of drinks ($6 top-shelf vodka in a tall glass? hell yeah…) we make it to the next room, to find ourselves in some weird warehouse looking dance room, with B52s playing, and possibly the oddest crowd I’ve ever seen shakin’ it on the dance floor: tight-pant hipsters, crazy drag queens, (gay) corporate types still wearing their dress shirts from work, butch lesbians, shirtless guys wearing pajama bottoms… you get the picture. This might be the closest any place gets to Misshapes West of the Mississipi. Or not.
After enjoying the show for a little while (and realizing that my senses are being way overstimulated), I end up to the third room, which looks like some sort of bistro, and where I find my bf having a conversation with Robert Smith’s doppelganger. A trip to the bathroom later (nice bathroom actually!), we end up back in the front bar, and I find myself chatting with this huge queenie black guy who tells I just have got to go to the Rose Garden tomorrow (which I did, and he was right, totally worth the trip). We enjoy our last drinks (final call at 2am… sucks!) and grudgingly make our way out after probably one of the craziest evening I had during my stay in Portland.
Great bar, strong drinks… space to move around and a lot of interesting people to look at. Bartender was attentive and friendly. Plenty of street parking. Clean, trendy and non snooty. score.
Overall killer drinks, try the homojito cardamon infused mojito may hear weird at first but gosh dang they are tasty, Very attentive (cute) bartenders and a really nice bar menu on top of that. Have yet to been to queer bait but it hears like it might be finally taking off.
Went here on a Thursday night for Happy Hour, which turned into many happy hours because this place is so great.
The drinks are killer- my friend had a HoMojito and she loved it. I’m more of a beer gal and drank Roots all night - the beer list is not extensive but there are a lot of local brews and it’s all quality.
Also grabbed some food here - AMAZING! I had this awesomely awesome eggplant sandwich with fresh motzarella & basil on delicious bread.
I think my favorite part about this bar is the staff. Our bartender Steve was super friendly, made great recomendations about the food & drinks and made our experience top notch!
Plus it was easy to get a table or seats at the bar. I hate waiting…..
The food is a bit greasy in my opinion, but pretty good for bar or club. The big downer I have for Crush is the people who goes there… ’cause seems to me no one ever goes there on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night! It never got enough energy like Tube or Rotture. The drinks are good though. The atmosphere is nice and clean. But why is it so quiet and boring? They usually hire good Djs too (cute ones too). Wassup with this!? or am I missing out on something? Please, someone educate me.
PS: Their Sunday brunch is delicious!
PPS: awesome Tuesday all night happy hour.
PPPS: A straight friendly queer bar. heh.
The grand arched doorway leads to three distinct spaces. The soaring lounge, lit by a magnificent booze-bottle chandelier, offers intimate tables, a long curved bar, gigantic coffee-colored couches and granite-topped coffee tables. The sleek and cool blue room heats up on dance nights and the raucous “smoking-allowed” vice room has its own bar and bathroom that runs movies on its TVs. Contagious exuberance abounds, fueled by over-the-top cocktails and popular guest DJs, go-go dancers.